William E. Smith

High School

About the School

School Mission: All students graduate with the knowledge and skills necessary to create the lives they choose.

William Smith High School is located in Aurora, CO, just east of Denver. It is an open-enrollment public school serving students in the Aurora district.

William Smith describes itself as an EL (Expeditionary Learning) Education school "dedicated to providing a diverse student body with outstanding academic and character education through engaging project-based work." The daily schedule includes two interdisciplinary projects and a "Crew" period. Each project lasts approximately 1/4 of the year, so that by the end of the year, students will have completed eight projects.

About the School: William E. Smith High School is one of eleven high schools in the Aurora, CO school district and serves 386 students in grades 9-12, with a student to teacher ratio of 19:1. The student population is diverse: 71.8% Hispanic, 12.6% White, 6.8% Black, 4.7% Asian, 3.4% Multiracial, 0.1% Native American/Alaskan/Pacific Islander. ELL students comprise 24% of the population; 10% are SWD; and 82.9% receive free or reduced lunch.

Key Takeaways

The ninth grade program is highly-structured: Ninth graders begin the year with a retreat and separate classes before being integrated into the high school. Ninth graders are taught the "William Smith Way."
"Try it! Even if it doesn't work, the kids will learn something." There's a culture of creativity and risk-taking.
The Crew structure fosters student connections and maintains the positive school culture.
William Smith is an EL (Expeditionary Learning) school, so students spend their days working on multidisciplinary projects. They do two projects at a time, with four rotations throughout the year.
The culture is highly collaborative. Students lead meetings, brainstorm project ideas, set the expectations, and give feedback.
"William Smith taught me about the kind of person I want to become."

Detailed Summary

Ninth graders are explicitly taught the "William Smith Way" - they begin the year with a 2-week retreat and have separate classes for the first semester. No grades are given for first semester - comments only; grades revealed later. There is a robust, well-thought-out plan for acclimating the ninth graders.
"TRY IT!" - The students are going to learn something, even if it doesn't go as planned.
CREW (Advisory structure with a mix of grades 9-12). Students are in the same group, with the same advisor, for 4 years. It's a small group that holds each other accountable.
Student ownership and leadership: Students run community meetings. A student leadership group is in charge.
Students help to design and evaluate project ideas before those projects run. (Staff members "pitch" their ideas to students to get feedback and gauge interest.)
Students only do two projects at a time, with 4 rotations throughout the year. Projects are "pitched" to students (for feedback) before they run.
When the school's transition started, the culture shift started with grade 9 and grew from there. That way, the expectations were set as they developed the school's culture. (Not all staff members remained at William Smith after the shift began.)
This change began about 15 years ago. They are still vulnerable and still learning. They're not afraid to say that something doesn't work and make a change.
Content teams have identified the "priority standards" that they will focus on to allow teachers the space to plan projects. The school only uses grades 11-12 standards.
All projects are interdisciplinary and are team-taught (no silos). The projects are taught thematically with authentic outcomes. (Examples: Shoe-designing (artistic design and process of creating a shoe), Ninja Warrior (fitness training and precalculus), Hip Hop (song/poetry writing and performance), etc. Students appreciate having only 2 things to focus on at a time.
Teachers go by their first names. Students are taught "habits" rather than expectations. This helps to eliminate the hierarchy and make it more of a team (collaborative). "This is what we do here."
Students do presentations, culminations, showcases, etc. - focus on celebrating student work and artistry. There's a focus on social justice and community when doing projects.
New teachers ONLY team-teach for at least the first year. There is weekly PD and a yearly staff retreat to support staff in individualization.
The district is "light" on administration. There's a focus on allocating resources to teaching, including having administrators teaching classes.
Race was identified by students as an issue: Students expressed an interest in finding staff members "like us" - people who understand what students are going through. Students led discussions and educated staff members on the needs.
Kids knew the expectations - classes had differentiated goals that the students set.
Students expressed that everyone is there to support each other - everyone belongs and no one is unseen. Teachers are facilitators of learning, not deliverers of content.
Kids nominated staff for acknowledgement and recognized them in the community meeting.
Supporting students means supporting families.
There was creativity on display throughout the school and a culture of student ownership.

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